What is a food allergy?
An allergy is a hostile reflex of the organism to one or more foreign molecules (antigens or allergens), wrongly considered harmful by the immune system;
Egg protein
The egg is one of the foods of animal origin that most stimulates the immune-mediated allergic reaction in predisposed subjects; the relative proteins: ovomucoid, ovalbumin and ovotransferrin, have a high incidence of hypersensitization and are not all easy to inactivate with food processing.
The allergy to eggs is therefore triggered by the recognition of the peptides mentioned above as molecules harmful to the body; among the readers, some could reason on the fact that, in the case of proteins, to avoid the possibility of any clinical phenomenon linked to their interaction with the immune system, it may be sufficient to subject them to chemical, physical or enzymatic DENATURATION. Well, this is an only partially acceptable observation since, in spite of the others, the ovomucoid (highly glycosylated protein of GALLINA egg ALBUME) is a molecule extremely resistant to heat and digestive trypsin ; for this reason, even after cooking, it effectively preserves its allergenic capacity.
Allergy to egg proteins and chicken meat
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, egg allergy lies in 3rd place among the eight most frequent reactions (responsible for 90% of food allergies); furthermore, it was found that some egg protein allergens are also present inside the meat, especially chicken, thus increasing the risk index for allergic reactions.
The allergy to egg proteins is therefore a very frequent form of hypersensitization; however, having clearly understood that the antigens concerned are of three different types, two of which are thermolabile and one thermostable, it is also possible to set a more or less rigorous and specific diet.
Without further discussion, an allergic to ovalbumin and ovotransferrin could easily decide to include eggs and chicken meat in his diet, as long as these foods / ingredients are always well cooked and contain sufficiently denatured peptides (so as to exclude the possibility of immune recognition). ON THE CONTRARY, if the allergy to eggs is characterized by incompatibility towards the ovomucoid, the diet must be of total EXCLUSION of foods containing eggs and egg white, allowing the consumption of meat (including chicken), which ONLY contains thermolabile ovalbumin and ovotransferrin .
In summary:
- Allergy to ovalbumin and ovotransferrin = exclusion of RAW eggs and meat, it is allowed to use COTTI meat and eggs
- Ovomucoid allergy = exclusion of both CRUDE and COTTE eggs, both CRUDA and COTTA meat is allowed
- Allergy to ovalbumin, ovotransferrin and ovomucoid = exclusion of both CRUDE and COTTE eggs, excluding CRUDA meat, the use of COTTA meat is allowed.
It is recommended that all subjects affected by the allergy to the ovomucoid to carefully consult the food labels of the manufactured and / or industrially processed products.
List of foods containing chicken EGGS, ONLY egg yolk or ONLY egg white: egg pasta, gnocchi with eggs, some ready-to-eat pasta dishes, gratin dishes, shortcrust pastry, sponge cake, custard, other pastry bases, croquettes and others fried, meatloaf, some types of bread like pancarrè, liqueurs made with eggs, etc.
NB . Egg allergy is extremely common among the infant population but, fortunately, represents a form of hypersensitivity to high probability of regression; ultimately, not only is it possible, but it is also frequent, that a person allergic to eggs regains the ability to tolerate them over time.
In the video, an example of dessert without eggs
Dove of Roses (Without Eggs)
X Problems with video playback? Reload from YouTube Go to Video Page Go to Video Recipes Section Watch the video on youtubeSee Other Video Recipes of Desserts without Eggs